Reviewed by Dennis Funk
On staff with The Navigators of Canada for the past 19 years responsible for resources and training in relation to church-based discipleship.
One Life by Scot McKnight
Zondervan 2010
I like a lot of what Scot McKnight writes. I enjoy his blog (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/), which is named after his popular book - Jesus Creed. I’ve read his books the Blue Parakeet and more recently The King Jesus Gospel. Scot is able to take big theological ideas and make them understandable, clear, accessible, and practical to everyone.
In One Life - the big idea he works through is: What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who follows Jesus. That’s the simple definition he begins with and then adds to.
Scot brings his practical insight to bear on the question of what it should actually look like to follow Jesus and walk in the Kingdom that Christ announced. At the core of the book is the notion that life in Christ's kingdom demands the full commitment of your “one life.” It was never intended to be part-time or compartmentalized. Jesus did not call his followers to individual salvation so that they can be engrossed in private acts of piety that have no effect on the world. Being a Christian includes that, but it's much more.
Scot touches on a wide variety of beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors that form the contours of the Christian life. Things such as imagination, love, justice, peace, wisdom, church, sex, vocation, and eternity - examining each in a kingdom light.
Throughout each chapter, Scot presents the Christian life in fresh language that will help followers of all ages realize and understand what it means to follow Jesus. Not only has that, but the scores of examples, anecdotes, and practical suggestions throughout made this book more accessible and relevant than other books on this topic. Because he is a professor at a university, his examples tend to be those with young adults struggling with faith and life. I found the realization that he is constantly interacting with a post-modern and post-Christian generation helpful. It was a good wake-up call for myself that following Jesus like we (the North American church) have been doing will not attract them to Jesus.
“For Jesus the kingdom meant God’s dream for this world come true” (28). A large premise of the book rides on Jesus' teaching on the kingdom of God within the context of the Jewish understanding of 'kind, land and citizens' (30). Echoing the work of his book King Jesus Gospel, N.T. Wright and others, Scot sees the goal of Israel and its coming king as providing blessing to all nations, regardless of ethnicity. Jesus' message was therefore radical to his hearers, for it called for a new order to dawn upon the present age of Roman rule. Yet, as McKnight indicates, the purpose of the kingdom was to be God’s dream society on Earth (32). The message of the kingdom is not to be isolated from the blessing of God upon the whole nations. As followers of Jesus, we are not to isolate ourselves from the prevailing culture, but to engage it as Jesus did and taught. God's blessing does not end with the coming of Jesus, but is inaugurated in a new paradigm.
What impacted me most is that One Life sees Christianity in the lives of its believers as providing a call that encompasses all of life (not segregated to morality or petty rules). If we are not caught up with the dream of Jesus, following His teaching and life, then we are caught up in a vision counter to His call.
His final definition of what a Christian is, incorporates the elements of the One Life:
A Christian is one who follows Jesus by devoting his or her One Life to the kingdom of God, fired by Jesus’ own imagination, to a life of loving God and loving others, and to a society shaped by justice, especially for those who have been marginalized, to peace, and to a life devoted to acquiring wisdom in the context of a local church. This life can only be empowered by God’s Spirit (106).
I believe this book will help bring clarity to the North American church on what it means to be a disciple and follower of Jesus. I believe most churches have a poor understanding and picture of what a disciple should look like and how to make them. The book is an excellent tool for church leaders and those serious about living and passing on their life with Jesus.
I am going through the book once again with a friend and wished there were discussion/ reflection questions at the end of each chapter - however I know there will be more than enough talking points to guide our journey!
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Very thoughtful reveiw! Thanks for taking the time to let us know about this resource.